Home / Non-Accredited / Microsoft Office & Computer Skills / Microsoft Word Beginners to Intermediate (2 days)
Quick Look Course Summary:Microsoft Word Beginners to Intermediate (2 days)
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Next Public Course Date:
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Length: 2 day(s)
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Price (at your venue): 1 Person R 10,326 EX VAT 3 Person R 7,594 EX VAT 10 Person R 5,537 EX VAT
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Certification Type:Non-Accredited
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Locations & Venues: Off-site or in-house. We train in all major city centres throughout South Africa.
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Microsoft Word Beginners to Intermediate (2 days)
Take a team from hesitant Word users to people who can structure, review and finish a long document properly – in two consecutive days.
Hiring someone who 'knows Word' usually means someone who can type a letter. Structured reports, numbered policies, documents reviewed by several people and forms that others fill in are a different matter, and most staff have never been shown how. This two-day Microsoft Word training takes a group from the fundamentals to confident intermediate use in one booking, so the whole team ends up working the same way.
Day one is BOTI's licensed Word Essentials kit: creating and saving documents, page setup, formatting text and paragraphs, tables and lists, simple references, pictures and SmartArt, and checking a document before it goes out. Day two is the Word 2024 kit pitched at intermediate level: styles and multilevel numbering, multi-section layouts, Outline view and an automatic table of contents, cross-references, tables with formulas, charts, Track Changes, comments and co-authoring, a protected fillable form and a company template.
Every exercise uses the kind of document a South African office produces – a letter on a letterhead, a staff schedule in a table, an HR policy with numbered clauses, a quarterly report with a landscape appendix, a leave-request form. Delegates finish with documents they built themselves and the habits to keep doing it. The course is the first two days of BOTI's Word ladder; the Advanced day can be added as Microsoft Word Beginners to Advanced (3 days).
Why this course
For your organisation
- A whole team brought to the same intermediate standard in one booking
- Documents that look consistent whoever produced them
- Policies and reports with reliable numbering, an up-to-date table of contents and controlled reviewing
- Forms and templates that departments complete the same way every time
- Two consecutive days, so day one is still fresh when day two builds on it
For your delegates
- The fundamentals done properly before the harder skills are added
- Styles, numbering and sections that stop long documents from falling apart
- Confident reviewing with Track Changes, comments and version history
- A fillable form and a template you built yourself
- Two days of practice on realistic documents with a facilitator on hand
What delegates will be able to do
- Create, save and share documents in the right format, including PDF, and check them for hidden information before sending
- Set up pages, headers, footers and page numbers, and format text and paragraphs consistently
- Build tables and bulleted, numbered and multi-level lists that behave
- Insert pictures, shapes, SmartArt, footnotes, captions and a cover page
- Apply and modify styles and build a numbered heading scheme with a multilevel list
- Divide a document into sections with their own layout, headers, footers and page numbering
- Structure a long document with Outline view and the Navigation Pane, an automatic table of contents and cross-references
- Add formulas to tables, control where tables break across pages and insert charts
- Review documents with Track Changes, comments, @mentions, co-authoring and version history
- Create a protected fillable form, AutoText entries and a customised template
Who should attend
Teams and individuals who need to move from basic or self-taught Word use to confident intermediate skills: administrators, personal assistants, HR, finance and compliance staff, supervisors and team leaders who write their own reports, and new employees joining an office environment. No previous Word training is needed; delegates should be comfortable with a keyboard and mouse.
Course outline
Day 1 – Beginners: the fundamentals done properly
Creating, saving and finding your way around documents
- Starting from a blank page or a built-in template; opening a PDF in Word to edit it
- Inserting text from another file; Find, Go To and bookmarks for moving around a long document
- Hyperlinks to a web page, an email address or another document
- Views, zoom and split window; adding your most-used commands to the Quick Access Toolbar
- Showing formatting marks to see why a document is misbehaving
- Document properties, print settings and printing only part of a document
- Saving as PDF and other formats; checking compatibility with older versions of Word
- Inspecting a document for hidden personal information and accessibility problems before it leaves the organisation
Page setup and the look of the document
- Margins, orientation and paper size – A4 by default
- Headers, footers and page numbers
- Document themes and style sets for a consistent look in one click
- Page colour and page borders for a notice or certificate
- Page, section and column breaks, and changing the page setup for one part of a document
- Text in two or three columns for a newsletter or staff notice
Formatting text and paragraphs
- Selecting, cutting, copying and pasting; find and replace
- AutoCorrect entries for words you type often; special characters and symbols
- Fonts, size, colour, highlighting and Format Painter
- Alignment, line spacing, paragraph spacing and indents – without pressing Enter twice
- Clearing unwanted formatting from pasted text
- Applying built-in heading and body styles
- WordArt and arranging text for a heading on a notice or flyer
Tables and lists
- Inserting a table, or converting typed text to a table and back again
- Table styles, cell margins and spacing; merging and splitting cells
- Resizing rows and columns, splitting a table and sorting the rows
- A header row that repeats on every page of a long staff list
- Bulleted and numbered lists: changing bullets and number formats, custom bullets
- Multi-level lists: promoting and demoting levels, restarting or continuing numbering, setting a starting number
Simple references, cover pages and graphics
- Footnotes and endnotes, and changing how they are numbered
- Captions for figures and tables
- A standard table of contents from the gallery, and updating it
- A cover page for a short report or proposal
- Pictures, shapes, screenshots and text boxes
- Picture styles and effects, removing a background and wrapping text around an object
- Positioning objects on the page and adding alternative text for accessibility
- SmartArt for an organogram or a simple process diagram
Day 2 – Intermediate: structured documents, reviewing and templates
Styles and numbering that hold together
- Why manual formatting breaks in long documents and styles do not
- Applying and modifying built-in styles so one change updates every heading
- Numbered headings for a policy or procedure (1, 1.1, 1.1.1) with a multilevel list linked to heading styles
- Multilevel lists for clause numbering in contracts and tender responses
- Cleaning up formatting in text pasted from emails, PDFs and older documents
Layout for multi-section documents
- Section breaks: a landscape appendix, a different first page, a chapter that starts on a new page
- Headers and footers that differ by section, and page numbers that restart for each part
- Margins, orientation and paper size that change between sections
- Cover pages, columns and pull-out boxes for a newsletter or annual report
- Borders, shading and a DRAFT or CONFIDENTIAL watermark
Long and structured documents
- Building a heading structure Word can work with: headings, subheadings and Outline view
- Moving and reordering whole sections with the Navigation Pane and Outline view
- An automatic table of contents based on your headings, and keeping it current
- Bookmarks and cross-references ('see clause 4.2 on page 12') that update themselves
- Citations, sources and a bibliography in a research or board report
Tables, charts and visuals for data
- Formulas in a table: totals and averages in a quotation or budget table without opening Excel
- Keeping rows together and controlling where a table breaks across pages
- Positioning a table on the page and wrapping text around it
- Inserting and formatting a chart for a monthly report
- Icons, shapes and images positioned and grouped so they stay put
Reviewing and working together
- Track Changes: switching it on, reviewing edits and accepting or rejecting them
- Comments: adding, replying, @mentioning a colleague and resolving
- Sharing a document from OneDrive or SharePoint and co-authoring at the same time
- Version history: seeing who changed what and restoring an earlier version
- Spelling and grammar, Read Aloud, Immersive Reader and the Accessibility Checker
- Chatting in Teams about the document without leaving Word
Templates, forms and personal set-up
- Using a company template and adjusting it for a new document type
- A fillable form – a leave request or visitor register – with text fields, drop-down lists and tick boxes
- Protecting the form so colleagues can complete the fields but not change the layout
- AutoText and building blocks for a standard disclaimer, signature block or address
- Customising the ribbon with your own tab and group of commands
- Word options worth changing: AutoSave, default save location and the proofing language (English, South Africa)
How it is delivered
Two days, 08:30-16:00, usually consecutive. In person at your offices anywhere in South Africa, at a BOTI venue, or live online. One delegate or a group of up to 20, each on their own machine. Taught in Word for Microsoft 365 (Word 2024); day two's co-authoring and version history need a Microsoft 365 account. Laptops with the software can be supplied on request. Manual and exercise files for both days included. We deliver it at your offices in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, Cape Town and anywhere else in South Africa, at a BOTI venue in Johannesburg, or live online for teams in different places.
What our clients say
“The facilitator effectively encouraged participation and used practical examples, discussions and interactive activities to ensure that the concepts were understood and could be applied in the workplace.”
“Business Optimization Training Institute facilitated Microsoft Excel Training for our company. The course was efficiently scheduled and planned around our timetable. We were impressed by the quality of training.”
“The training was very informative and practical, leaving our employees feeling confident in their ability to leverage Excel more effectively.”
Frequently asked questions
Can you run this course at our offices?
Yes. Most groups are trained at the client's premises anywhere in South Africa, on your own computers or on laptops we supply on request. We can also host the course at a BOTI venue or run it live online.
How many people can attend?
From one delegate to a group of about 20, each on their own machine so that everyone practises every exercise. See the price table for group pricing, or ask us for a quote.
Is the course accredited?
No – it is a non-accredited short course and delegates receive a BOTI certificate of attendance. The training spend may count towards your B-BBEE skills development – check with your verification agency. If you need an accredited route, ask us about BOTI's End User Computing skills programmes (QCTO accreditation pending).
Can we book the days separately?
Yes. Day one is Microsoft Word Beginners (1 day) and day two is Microsoft Word Intermediate (1 day). Booking them together as a two-day course keeps the same facilitator and group, and day two picks up exactly where day one ends.
Is there a third day?
Yes. Microsoft Word Advanced (1 day) covers templates, building blocks, macros, indexes, fields and mail merge from Excel. All three days booked together are Microsoft Word Beginners to Advanced (3 days).
Can the exercises use our own documents?
Yes. Send us a letter template, a policy or report and any forms you use, and the facilitator builds the exercises around them.